


Interrupted Sleep

by SpaceWeaver



Category: Edge of The Empire, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Galactic Civil War, Introspection, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Original Female Character, Pre-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Rebellion, Roleplaying Game: Star Wars: Edge of Empire, Twi'lek Clone, Twi'leks (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22920628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWeaver/pseuds/SpaceWeaver
Summary: Sleep is usually an escape from reality for Riz'zal, but it seems her subconscious mind has other ideas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Interrupted Sleep

Riz’zal jolted awake, her lungs screaming for air. “Not this, not again” she choked out amid rapid breaths. Struggling to get her breathing under control Riz moved her hand over her mouth and nose, pinching her nostrils shut as her hand came down over her mouth. Something she had picked up from another traveller on her way out to the galactic rim, they’d said it would help get her breathing under control. While Riz wasn’t certain whether the technique had any actual effect, it provided a sense of comfort and helped her to calm down, so it was more than good enough for her. After several seconds Riz released the grip she had over her mouth and nose, taking a deep breath and filling her lungs with fresh air, or as fresh as the air on an old ship could be. 

As her breathing slowed, the heavy beat of her panicked heart faded away, leaving only the constant noise of the ship’s main engine. Riz’zal focused on this sound and the vibrations it caused as she sat up in her bunk. The rhythmic nature of the ship’s engine helping to ground her on the here and now, slowly pulling her out of her nightmares. As she regained her bearings Riz began to think about the others on the ship, imagining that they wondered how she could handle living in the engine room of a starship. But to her it was the best spot on a ship, there was always something to tinker with and the engine was a source of comfort for her. The strong sound and vibrations often allowing her to collect herself when feeling panicked or detached from herself, there was also the added benefit of the engine running hot, leaving the entire room roasting, adding an extra layer of comfort for the twi-lek. 

Having shaken off the last vestiges of her panicked awakening, Riz removed her blanket and dangled her legs off the edge of the bunk. Riz scanned the floor of the engine room for her jumpsuit, with only the dim glow of emergency lighting to help her make sense of her surroundings. Upon finding the jumpsuit Riz lowered herself off the bunk, slipping her feet into the legs holes of the outfit before reaching down and grasping the shoulders of her jumpsuit and shimmying the outfit onto her lower half and then putting her arms into the suits sleeves, shrugging the suit over her shoulders before slipping on boots that lay next to where her jumpsuit had just been. 

The locker door let out a groan as Riz struggled to open it, like the rest of the ship, her locker was in dire need of some TLC, she thanked the stars that the engine was so noisy otherwise she feared the noise of the locker would’ve awoken the entire ship. With the locker open Riz yanked her jacket off the hanger, pulling it over her jumpsuit as she headed for the door. 

Outside of the engine room, the ship was near silent, the engine barely audible within the corridor. While Riz missed the noise of the crew, she was relieved no one was awake right now, she didn’t want anyone asking about her nightmare. There was plenty that she would happily talk the crews ears off about, this was a deeply personal thing she wanted to keep to herself. Riz tiptoed through the ship, almost tripping over a misaligned floor panel in the dimly lit corridor, “Where the hell did Y3 even get this bucket of bolts” she muttered as she righted herself against the wall. 

Continuing through the ship she began to wonder how the thing was even holding together, from what she had seen it was scrapped together with parts from a variety of different vessels. Was it just repaired with whatever parts they could scrounge or was this ship really just chunks of older ships kept together with a lot of spit and bonding tape? 

Lost in thought, Riz soon found herself within the ship’s galley, face to face with the caf machine. With a few button presses the machine came to life with a soft hum and flickering lights. Riz placed a cup into the receptacle and made her selection, causing the machine to whir and grumble as it began filled the cup with freshly made caf. 

“Shshsh, don’t give me up to the crew” she whispered to the machine, petting the top of the device as it sputtered out the last of the caf into her cup. With the caf made she quickly shut down the device, grabbing the sweetener that sat next to the device and dropping a few spoonsful into her cup before picking it up. The comforting warmth of the mug clasped between her hands felt like a hug from a close friend, or at least what she imagined it would feel like.

Even after all this time Riz’zal still had issues with letting people close to her. A primal fear of her past catching up to her and taking her back to the source of her nightmares led her to keep everyone at arm’s length. In part to protect herself from the possibility of betrayal. 

With caf in hand Riz took a slow sip, savouring the taste as she tried to clear her mind before moving towards the airlock, this time avoiding the wayward floor panel in the corridor. On the other side sat her personal ship ‘The Inquisitor’, a CloakShape fighter she had ‘acquired’ a little while after meeting the rest of what became the Kriff Show’s crew.

Riz climbed up into the fighter, placing her caf on the fighter’s floor before pulling herself up into the cockpit. The fighter’s cramped interior was a mess, various bits of old hull plating and bolts lay strewn about, remnants of Riz’s recent work to install a proper docking port onto the fighter. When she first got the fighter it had a basic docking clamp but required the pilot to exit the vessel and spacewalk to board the ship it had docked with. While it still required some effort to climb into her fighter, it sure beat taking a jaunt in the void. 

Having clambered into the seat of her fighter, Riz’zal looked out the canopy, taking another sip of her caf. Before her lay the swirling blue and white torrent that signified the vessel was in hyperspace. With this Riz let out a sigh, it was still a few days before they would reach their destination, as long as they were in hyperspace she was safe from her past. Finally at ease Riz grabbed her datapad off the fighters dash and made herself comfy in the cockpit for the night, enjoying the sense of safety provided by glow of hyperspace.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanna give a big thanks to my Edge of the Empire party and our awesome GM for the most excellent times together and the opportunity to build such awesome characters together! 
> 
> Really enjoyed creating and developing Riz'zal!! 
> 
> This fic was supposed to be done months ago, before a big reveal for their backstory as a way to hype it up a bit but lost track of time 😅😅😅 but hope yall still enjoy it!


End file.
